Fantastic Frugaleers Continuing Austere April!

[Cagliostro]

Hello! :)

£9 on food/drinks/ice cream at theme park. (Two hot chocolates, two ice creams, 3 burgers and some chips). Woops

I was looking at bikinis today, they are weirdly expensive! I couldn't bring myself to get one although I do need one for our holiday coming up. Think will look in Asda/ Sainsburys as hopefully will be cheaper there.

Been to town and back, parked in Morrisons which is now free parking for 2 hours.

Spent £68 in Debenhams on some much needed new clothes, however used a £50 gift voucher that I have had since Christmas so actual spend for me was £18! Plus need to try a couple of bits on so a couple of items may go back.

Spent £46 in Mountain WareHouse, got a new water proof coat which was half price and a t.shirt and hoody for dd for that so quite good I think. My old water proof coat is years and years old and looked awful so new coat was much needed!

Paid my cheque in and my mum bought me a cup of tea so all in all quite good

Nsd. Going out for dinner tonight but dh is paying. Going to gbk and I get an NHS discount there. Yum.

Oh forgot to say DH phoned up PPI line for our bank and it turns out he didn't have it! A shame but at least we know for sure.

So next it'll be the packaged bank account thingies. We still pay for them which is ridiculous.

Here's the printer subscription thing my friend uses: www8.hp.com/uk/en/ads/instant-ink/overview.html

DS was much better than yesterday, so went back to school today. He said he was fine, just tired, so he's gone for a nap. I had a lovely walk and pub lunch with a friend, which cheered me right up after our bad week. So, spends: £15 pub lunch, including 10% tip; £6.60 return bus fare; £ 1.30 post office; £2 ice cream for the freezer. Total : £24.90.

Primark is great for cheap beach wear.

creme aww bless him!

wreck DH and I are so jealous! We love gbk. We don't have one nearby :( DH just asked if we can move back to the South East just for the decent food! Haha!

Oh no collie! We love five guys too dd is excited about corn on the cob (apparently I can't cook it and I don't eat it so can't comment!). Just waiting for dh to get home from work...

Dd starts swimming at school next week twice a week which she will enjoy she's very lucky.

Hello all,
Been missing in action as was away for business trip...my last one in a long while. Feeling quite emotional.

Now that I'm not going to be travelling, can someone please be so kind to repost the information about ppi again? Please? Was it fluffy who posted some time back about how to get ppi or enquire about it with the various banks? Was it a straight forward thing around ringing the banks? Thanks a bunch. I've spent too much on the trip but thankfully office advanced the money this time round so I hopefully won't be out of pocket.

Thanks again.

Girlie I'm in the same boat. My coat is very very old too and really needs replaced. It's a waterproof one and I will be following in your footsteps to mountain warehouse sometime soon. Regatta outlet online are great too.

I'm so glad you think bikinis are strangely expensive too. In the end I just bought one and having been taking good care of it for years and years. I was about to say that it saves storage space just having one too, but of course it doesn't save that much. :-)

Wreck, what's gbk - is that the posh burger restaurant? And are there any other places that you can get an NHS discount?

Space they don't accept NHS discount on Friday and Saturday rubbish! But yes lots of other places do here is a list

Yes ipsos bikinis are staggeringly expensive. I struggke to find ones to fit properly too so end up usually buying separates. I'm a 34DD up top and a 10 on bottoms. If I buy a size 10 bikini I can't really so anything in it other than sit down for risk of boob escapage. Definetly wouldn't be able to go in the sea learnt this the hard way

I tend to buy the surf ones (my fave is a quicksilver one. Black top with orange flowers and black bottoms. Huge triangles for keeping my boobs safe) as they are meant for the sea and tend to be more secure. I only have 12 at home though not seventeen. So that's better than I thought.

Do not need any new ones.

Picked up my new trainers today. £30 from sports direct with 5% cashback. Needed these. My old ones stink and are falling apart. I don't think they'd survive the wash. And I've had them for about 8 years. Shows how often I was gymming/running.

Dh is making pizza and I'm sat in the window with a glass of rose.

Welcome back bees - take it easy, big changes coming up with your job so allow yourself time to get used to it

With PPI, I've only had one credit card so it was easy for me - I just searched PPI on the NatWest site and found the dedicated PPI phone number. It took like 15 minutes all in, so quick! No fussy forms to fill in. I'm assuming other banks would be similar :)

Trying to come up with pricing plan for my class. Eep.

Wreck, thanks for that list!

Ipsos - I do that with my online shopping!!! I throw anything that takes my fancy into my basket and then delete a load. I also have this need to have more healthy bits than not - don't want the picker/delivery person thinking I am unhealthy!!! Saves me a fortune on chocolate, cakes, sweets etc

Firstmum. The grocery apps are good, eg topcashback has 50p back on pork farms pork pies. Asda or morrisons sell them for £1. So when the cashback comes through its only cost you 50p.

Or take it as Tesco points, boost it and it's worth £1.50 to £2.

If your dh does say anything about a lack of treats I personally would mention the money you've spent bailing him out. It's not going to repay itself without help.

£4 morrisons. £2 was more Nivea deodorant which I'll claim back from Nivea. Got a daily mail for the £5 off lidl voucher.

£12 work supplies.

Claimed 5500 nectar points from e-rewards. The vase I bought in tk maxx for £6 is £60 online. I like it more now it's pricey. I'm made up about that.

Today spent £10 formula for DD, £14 worth of weaning spoons and pots and freezer pots but got that in boots from my points! £4.50 on sunglasses and socks for DD in primark, £6 on chippy for tea and £5 on cheap wine. £39.50 - God help me today was meant to be a NSD !! Chippy and wine a treat though...

fluffy thank you - looking into quidco just now

And thank you collie for all the advice. Picnic and hot chocolate are great ways to still have fun days out without it costing an arm and a leg. I have two handy thermos flasks which DH and I take on our walks in the park filled with coffee - no Starbucks for us! My home insurance is up for renewal in May so will definitely look into getting cash back for that!

Here is my Spring Bucket List. Not sure if it's useful to anyone?

Visit a farm
Catch the train
Plant some seeds
Woodland walk
Put some wild flowers in a vase
Visit a farmers market. (£5 spending limit)
Put some tulips in a vase
Fish n chips at the beach
Visit the moors & spot ponies
Play poosticks (small sticks, stream/river and a footbridge)
Cycle ride and hot drinks afterwards
Go puddle splashing.
Feed the ducks & ducklings
Fly a kite on a windy day
Decorate a flower pot
Plant some pansies (Aldi pansies)
Make some summer berry smoothies
Rainy day indoor picnic & treats
Buy a new book from charity shop (£3 limit)

Dh went to sainsburys so no idea how much he spent but there are bits missing so will need to go back again.

First mum I use kidstart and quidco and go for whichever pays most cash back, kidstart builds up savings for your children its slow going think I have £4.50 in 6mths between my 2 but I tend to shop within independent sellers of organic n scandi clothes or h&m, I use kidstart for eBay, Amazon and jojomaman mostly

This is my fear. DM sent DF to Aldi the other week there, he spent sixty quid and she could only make one meal out of the random assortment of items he has bought. Bless him, he thought he had done a belter of a shop!

Dh did a shop after I had surgery. Forgot three key ingredients and drove home triumphantly panning to tell me I was doing it all wrong.

Oh collie I'd forgotten about your lists.

So far I've ticked off the following from your list

Visit a farm - does a stables count?
Catch the train
Plant some seeds -yep.
Woodland walk -yep
Put some wild flowers in a vase -hedgerow daffodils...?
Visit a farmers market. (£5 spending limit) - yep but didn't stick to limit
Put some tulips in a vase
Fish n chips at the beach - yaaaaassssss!!
Visit the moors & spot ponies -
Play poosticks (small sticks, stream/river and a footbridge)
Cycle ride and hot drinks afterwards -can't ride a bike...
Go puddle splashing. -yaaaassssss!! Beach puddles count right...?
Feed the ducks & ducklings
Fly a kite on a windy day
Decorate a flower pot
Plant some pansies (Aldi pansies) -yes. On my papa's grave. Not sure I'm meant to. But he loved pansies. Said they were always watching me.
Make some summer berry smoothies
Rainy day indoor picnic & treats
Buy a new book from charity shop (£3 limit